Written by

The Tennessean

Nashville dining options

Here’s a quick look at some other hotel dining options making headlines recently:

LOEWS VANDERBILT

Loews recently completed a $17 million renovation of the hotel, including a revamp of its in-hotel restaurant. Mason’s and Mason Bar offer a nod to Southern charm with touches such as a Mason jar chandelier suspended over the bar, Mason jar walls in the restaurant space, twinkling lights that mimic fireflies and cowhide leather chairs in the bar.

OMNI HOTEL

The new hotel features an all-day dining room called Kitchen Notes, Bob’s Steak & Chop House and Barlines, a live entertainment venue and bar. The 21-story, 800-room luxury hotel is attached to the city’s new convention hall, Music City Center.

HOTEL INDIGO

Hotel Indigo recently underwent a $5 million renovation and expansion, including a new restaurant concept, The District Bar and Kitchen. The new name draws inspiration from the former printing district that once surrounded the property. A wall designed to look like the letter blocks used in the early printing process frames the check-in desk.

Loews Vanderbilt / Jae S. Lee / File / The Tennessean

Omni Hotel / Karen Kraft / File / The Tennessean

Hotel Indigo / Submitted

The Hilton Nashville Downtown has begun offering guests and local diners a farm-to-hotel menu concept, the centerpiece of a significant overhaul of its food and beverage offerings.

Once completely rolled out, the farm-to-table menu will be sourced with food and produce mostly from Tennessee, food and beverage director Franck Savoy said.

Changes also will include transitioning the sports bar that anchors the Hilton’s food offerings to a new upscale restaurant next year. The breakfast menu and room service menu also are being overhauled, with a focus on at least 65 percent to 70 percent healthy offerings, Savoy said.

Veteran chef Roger Keenan, who came to the Hilton from the Nashville Symphony, will take the lead in the kitchen.

The healthy menu options are already in place, and other improvements, which will be rolled out as part of the hotel’s $25 million renovation, will begin in early 2014.

Industry leaders say Hilton’s upgrades fit with improvements other top hotels, such as Loews Vanderbilt and Hotel Indigo, have made or will soon make to their food and beverage services. And they coincide with the arrival of the Omni Hotel.

Savoy said improving the food and beverage service was a necessary component of the renovation of the 300-room hotel.

“I’m very excited about the farm-to-hotel concept,” Savoy said. “It gives guests a chance to eat food, and drink bar offerings, that will be from Tennessee, so when you visit Nashville, you get a taste of the region.”

Tennessee Hospitality Association President Greg Adkins said changes to the food and beverage service are a positive benefit of the domino effect that Omni has had on Nashville’s tourism industry. Loews Vanderbilt recently completed a $17 million renovation project that also included an overhaul of its restaurant and food service.

“I think it’s definitely a residual effect and it’s positive,” he said. “The discussion was the Omni was going to lift all ships, and I think it’s had that effect. From a renovation standpoint and from a (food and beverage) standpoint, it’s good to have good competition in our industry. I think it’s something that has been a very positive side effect of the industry.”

Keenan said he is looking forward to the variety that comes with being the executive chef at a hotel overhauling its food and beverage offerings. He said the menu would continue to change seasonally moving forward.

“I like the action that happens in an a la carte restaurant versus what we do in a banquet setting,” Keenan said. “I think right now, culinarily, the hotels are really stepping up. We’ve got some of the nicest hotels in the state if not the many states surrounding us.”